Severus and Harry were caught in a whirlwind of bliss. Every day seemed to get better and better. After the war, Severus got the recognition he deserved, and after seeing what Lupion had said in the papers...Harry came to understand why Severus felt as put upon as he did. Both of these things seriously helped their relationship, and, of course, the pain and horror of almost losing each other bound them together more firmly than anything else.

They knew it was early, but fuck it, they were in love. They moved in together. They sold Severus's cottage, it was small and only held bad memories for him. And Harry bequeathed Grimmauld place to Ron. Harry could go back whenever he wanted, but Ron took responsibility for it, which was good. He needed a project after the loss of the war, and he was talented with his hands.

Instead, they bought a gorgeous town house in the middle of muggle London. The exterior was all genuine jacobian, white washed with thick black wood. But the interior was spacious and modern, with a wood staircase that wreaked of history and magic, adn wide, bright windows. It was three stories, not including a spacious basement, and had a gorgeous terraced garden. God it was expensive. Well over eleven million muggle pounds, Harry hated to think of what that was in Gallons.

But he didnt care. He made money off of interviews and licensed Harry Potter merchandise, in his sleep he made more than many people made in a year. Plus, Severus was probably looking at a large windfall. He was suing The Daily Prophet for slander, after they'd accused him of kidnapping and plotting to murder Harry.

But even that had turned out okay. It got him a lot of press for his new venter. He was quitting teaching at Hogwarts (obviously) and was instead getting into experimental potions. Many nights, he cuddled Harry as they sat around the fire, explaining excitedly about how he was going to find a cure for vampirism. Harry struggled to follow, but there was nothing difficult to understand about the happiness in Severus's eyes, or the light of his smile.

They were in heaven.

And it lasted a long time, until almost a year after the war.

Harry had noticed that Severus had been gloomy for Several days. At first he put it down to problems with the vampire cure (alas, as yet unsolved) but when he asked about that, he was told it was fine. And so, reluctantly, Harry did what he knew the man needed- and gave him space. It was very hard, but only a day later, he had his reward. As they sat down to dinner one night, Severus sighed and bit his lip.

"I have something i need to talk to you about." He began.

"Yeah?"

"You know… A lot of the death eaters have been thrown in prison lately. It's taken a long time to process them…"

"Yeah. Thank god they are finally getting justice."

"Well...you've heard about the scheme for...low level offenders? How they are being...sold or rented out?"

" Yes, i know, 'To appropriately responsible parties', right." Harry said, quoting the advertising slogan. It wasn't as bad as it sounded. The general idea was that many offenders were very young, and instead of prison, they needed to be installed in supportive environments. In these, thy could learn new skills and new morals. And not to kill people.

"Yeah I know. Seems kinda odd, but i guess it's better than azkaban. Why?"

Severus took a long breath. "I've heard from Draco."

Harry froze. "Yeah?" He said, not bothering to hide his distaste. He did not like where this was going.

"Uh. I've heard a few times, actually… he's not...in a good place." Severus said, delicately. That was putting it mildly, from the tone of his letters, he was in serious trouble. Severus suspected that the last letter had been written in his own blood. "He's being rented by this awful place…"

"Pity." Harry said, clearly happy about it.

"Harry...it's bad."

"Well what does he expect us to do about it?" He asked. He meant it to be rhetorical, but it clearly wasn't. Severus winced, knowing how much Harry would hate this.

" I want to buy him. Have him come and live with us."

"You have to be fucking kidding me." Harry barked.

"Yes, I thought you'd say that. But….He's hurt. Hes... "

"Yeah well, if you can't do the time, don't do the crime. He has to some kind of punishment, He cant get off scot free."

"Yes." Severus said. He didn't disagree, he just… was worried. "I know. And I know how you hated him...but well you hated me once too, right?"

This was the wrong thing to say. "You are a civil person." Harry snapped "You are a good, kind, brave person who risked his life almost constantly for the side of the light. He's a pathetic death eater."

"Harry…" Severus started. But Harry wouldn't listen.

"Severus." Harry said, his voice suddenly stern "Would you do it for James?" Harry knew this was a little bit of an unfair question. James had tormented Severus, while it was more or less an even playing field with him and Draco. But it got his point across.

"No" Severus admitted, looking sadly at his now cold soup.

"Good. Discussion closed then."

But the topic wasn't closed. Just because they weren't talking about it, didn't mean they weren't still thinking about it. For the first time since they started dating, they started fighting. Nominally, they fought about lots of things. The washing,where to go for dinner, whose turn it was to do the dishes...but they both knew it was really about Draco. Severus couldn't stop thinking about it, and a little part of him hadnt forgiven Harry for his refusal. A large part of Harry felt that Severus was being seriously ungrateful. He had never held money over Severus's head, in fact, he actively enjoyed spending his money on him. But expecting Draco to move in with them was another thing entirely- it pushed his generosity to the breaking point. It was too much.

After Harry snapped at him again, over nothing more important than where to hang a painting, Severus finally had a cool enough head to say

"Look. clearly still upset with me about this Draco thing. Can we talk it out?"

Harry, his emotions now exposed to the cold light of day, blushed pink. He was being kind of a dick, it was true. They put the painting down and stepping into the living room, settling on Harry's favorite couch. (it was old, but it reminded him of gryffindor common room)

"Look...i know he's your godson." Harry started.

"I know he's your enemy," Severus said quickly. He was seriously worried he'd fucked things up with Harry. It showed in his face, and Harry snuggled closer.

"Yeah. he is. I can understand that you feel like you had to ask, but...surely he has somewhere else to go?"

"No." Severus said sadly. "Everyone else he could ask is in Azkaban themselves. He's not the first person to write to me and ask, you know."

"Oh?" Harry said, curiously.

"Most of the slytherins from your year have, actually. They all got caught up in some bad stuff."

Harry nodded, not at all sympathetic. All he had to do was think of Hermione and he was crippled by pain and grief. No, he'd lost too many to forgive that easily.

But Severus looked like he was about to cry. "I don't want to lose you." He said stiffly.

"You won't." Harry said, throwing his arm around the other man, letting him rest his head on Harry's shoulder.

"I just don't know what to do."

Oh god. He did want to make Severus happy. Maybe there was some compromise?

"Well...I mean, could we buy him and have him live somewhere else?" Harry asked.

"No, he has to have "supervision" which means officially living with one of us."

Maybe they had moved in together too soon. If Severus still had his own place, this wouldn't be an issue….they could move out again, wait for his sentence to be done…

"How long…?

"Ten years."

Harry groaned. "No. That's too long. Im sorry, I really am. But i can't be expected to do that."

Severus sighed. "No i know. I agree. Its asking too much. I'm sorry i bought it up."

"Don't be. I know why you did. Your a good and loyal person… no matter what the risks are."

And so they let the matter drop again. They fought...less. Although there was still a tension in the air. Mainly, it was because Severus was deeply troubled and Harry very guilty. It was only made worse when he found a note on Severus's bedside table, covered in Dracos distinctive handwriting.

"Severus! Good to hear from you. Write more. Cant reply much. May not be able to reply again. Write still. I need you."

He had to admit, it was...worrying. It also looked as if it had been burned, the edges black and curling, which made the whole thing very sinister. But Harry seriously doubted it was that bad. This was a genuine ministry initiative, for god's sake! It had proper oversight.

Suddenly, an idea came to Harry. He'd find Draco, make sure he was okay and show Severus the memories. Yeah, that would work. At least it would put his mind at ease.

It wasn't difficult to find him, the ministry kept tabs on all ex-death eaters. He simply went to the office of magical law enforcement, asked for draco malfoy, and got an address. After work that night, he headed over. He took the precaution of drinking some polyjuice potion. People tended to act differently around The Great Harry Potter, and he didn't want that, he wanted the truth.

It was a normal looking black building. A little run down perhaps, but Draco couldn't expect the ritz. Inside, it was a totally different story. It was the loudest club Harry had ever been into. It was so filled with smoke, the air was almost hard to walk through, he certainly couldn't do it without coughing. Everything was a gaudy gold or bright purple. He grabbed a drink from the bar and walked further in.

Rows and rows of chairs stood before a long stage, empty but for three poles and three (Harry had to admit it) extremely sexy dancers. Suddenly he felt rather guilty, surely Severus wouldn't be okay with him being there? More to the point, Severus would certainly not accept this as evidence of Draco being fine. He groaned. He'd have to talk to the guy, see if he could catch him saying something like "Yeah, this is great, i con people all the time, because i'm such a bastard." Yeah, that would be good, Harry thought.

He pushed through the crowd, finding a seat to watch the show. Might as well enjoy it while he was there…

It didn't take long, Draco stood out in a crowd, his shockingly pale body almost glowing under the stage lights. He wore strappy, eight inch heels, covered in silver glitter. Above that he wore leather short shorts and a sheer top, that did nothing more than tint his pale skin black. Lastly, he had on a black leather collar, studded with silver spikes.

He was walking right towards Harry, Harry sat up eagerly, when a hand reached out and grabbed Draco, yanking him suddenly down. Harry was amazed he didn't snap his ankle, (or worse, his neck), but somehow he managed to stay together. With a smile that didn't convince Harry, he started to give the guy a lap dance. He swayed back and forth, hypnotically to the music. He ran his hands down his chest and onto his thighs, He turned quickly and rocked his hips, bringing his as an inch away from the guys face, before snatching it back seductively. The customer clearly loved it. He reached up and slapped his ass, hard enough to send him rocking on his high heels. Draco looked around desperately for a bouncer, but the only one nearby smiled and waved, clearly not giving a fuck, probably enjoying the show himself. Draco kept going, bending his knees, going low and opening his legs, show off their long, graceful shape. The customer reached out and ran one hand down his thigh. Draco tried to push him off, but he seemed not to care.

Finally, the bouncer got board. He marched over. "You know the rules, If you want to touch, you have to buy a private room." He informed the guy. "And this one bruises easily, maybe try and hold back a bit. Boss was talking about banning you after last time. You put that one out of work for a week"

Draco looked like was about to cry. The customer, however, looked smug. He whispered something to the guard and they both laughed uproariously as Draco flinched. The bouncer lead them both to the back, The customer holding Draco close, so he couldn't run.

Fuck, Harry thought.

He took his time getting home that night, his head reeling. Finally, he returned. He smiled, finding Severus in bed, but awake and waiting for him. Warm light spilled onto soft sheets, and Severus made the bed all warm and cozy for him. Harry sat down to take his shoes off.

"You're late." Severus said. Harry paused and looked at him, a serious expression on his face. He didn't say anything for several moments. Severus frowned. Was that the wrong thing to say? He didn't mean it as a criticism, just an observation. He opened his mouth to explain, but he had no time.

Instead Harry sighed and said "He can stay with us."